Learning the Will of Fire
by Voca-Mix2
Summary: "The hopes and dreams we pass to your generation is known as the Will of Fire. It's what gives us the strength to keep fighting against all odds, no matter what." Set before, during, and after the events of Boruto: Naruto the Movie. Rated T to be safe. Not a Self-Insert.
1. Chapter 1

**Learning the Will of Fire**

 **Chapter One**

* * *

The sound of the explosion was almost deafening, waking most from their slumber. It was thankfully not in the village but close enough that it was heard. Those who were awake witnessed the sky fill with fire, then wind and water, and finally lightning in quick succession. Before people could panic, the sky fell silent and nothing moved.

It was then that the Hokage sent people to investigate. He sent only two chunins, Kotetsu and Izumo, to the blast site and told them to call for backup if needed. The two ninjas set off and as they grew nearer to the location, they noticed the burned trees and other debris strewn about. They searched the blast radius, trying to find whatever caused the explosion but found nothing. They were about to call off the mission until they reached the center of the blast.

"Izumo! Come look at this!"

Tsunade was working overtime in the Hidden Leaf Hospital that night, doing research on new medical ninjutsu. Although she was retired, Tsunade did occasionally go to the hospital to brush up on her knowledge, not wanting to fall behind the new generation. She then let out sigh.

"I'm getting too old for this," Tsunade mumbled to herself. She was so engrossed in her literature that she did not immediately hear the explosion in the distance. When she did, she stopped for a moment but continued working, assuming nothing was wrong. If there was, someone would have came and got her. Tsunade worked for another hour before there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune started, as she opened the door, "you need to come see this."

The two kunoichis walked down the hospital corridor, arriving a room with Kotetsu and Izumo standing outside of it.

"What happened?" Tsunade asked.

"That explosion," Izumo started, "the blast radius was almost 30 meters…"

"Was there any causalities?"

"Thankfully no," Kotetsu answered, "but…"

"But what?" Tsunade asked. Kotetsu then gestured for her to follow him into the room. In there, there was a small girl, no older than five years old, lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

"We found her in the center of the blast," Izumo explained, "surprisingly with no injuries." Tsunade walked over to the bed and performed a chakra scan on the girl. Tsunade gasped.

"Shizune, get a medical team in here, stat!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Shizune said before darting out the room.

"What's wrong?" Kotetsu asked.

"She has no external injuries but has substantial internal injuries," Tsunade explained. "Just carrying her here probably cause severe bruising."

Shizune later return with the medical team and began healing her. Tsunade volunteered to watch over her for the night, claiming to have nothing else to do. She really was interested how the injuries the girl sustained were only internal if she was caught in the blast. Tsunade stayed in the hospital room but continued doing research when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Tsunade said distracted.

"Lady Tsunade, interesting to finding you here."

"Kakashi," Tsunade said, relieved. "What brings the Hokage here?"

"Kotetsu and Izumo told me the situation about this girl," Kakashi replied. "It's amazing she survived a blast that big at all." Tsunade nodded in agreement then the two sat in silence. Then Tsunade broke the silence.

"What are you thinking about, Kakashi?"

"I'm wondering if this girl knows what caused the explosion…"

"You're not thinking about sending this girl to the Intel unit, are you?" Kakashi shrugged.

"Children have been used to infiltrate and spy on villages before," Kakashi said, thinking of a particular shamisen player from his past.

"She's only a most likely won't get any information forciblely."

"What are you saying?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm saying that there's a better way to gain information from a child than having her mind probed," Tsunade said.

"What do you suggest then?" He asked. Tsunade shrugged.

"I can watch over her for the time being and get you what you need to know.

"Are you sure? You don't have to…"

"It's fine," Tsunade said, "I just don't want to traumatize the child anymore than she has to be."

* * *

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"I only agreed to watch over the kid," Tsunade explained to Shizune, shrugging. "It's no big deal."

"No big deal? Lady Tsunade, this is a child! You have no business taking care her! What were you thinking?"

"Calm down, Shizune," Tsunade hissed, leaning against the door frame outside of the room. "It's only temporary. Only until I get the information I promised Kakashi and get the girl to the proper custody." Shizune let out an exasperated sigh.

"Lady Tsunade…"

"Who would you have suggested then?" Tsunade asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know...Maybe Sakura…"

"No," Tsunade said, "she already has a child of her own. In fact, many of the people I would have asked have a family of their own and asking them to take in an extra child would be a burden on them, no matter how temporary the stay."

"But why did you volunteer?" Shizune asked. Tsunade shrugged.

"I was bored; it would give me something to do for the time being."

"Lady Tsunade!" Tsunade chuckled before peering into the hospital room.

"How do you suppose this girl survived the blast?" Tsunade asked, "From what I gathered, it was a powerful explosion." Shizune shook her head.

"I'm not sure," she responded, "maybe she absorbed some of the impact."

"No," Tsunade said, "because two things would have happened: she still would have external injuries and a blast that powerful would have ruptured her internal organs." Then she glanced at the girl again, "You don't suppose she caused the blast, do you?" Shizune stood in silence.

"It's possible," Shizune finally stated. Then Tsunade chuckled.

"And what better person to watch over her than the former Hokage?" Shizune shook her head.

"Lady Tsunade, you're almost seventy…"

"I'm in my mid-sixties," Tsunade corrected.

"I'm saying," Shizune continued, "that you're getting too old to-"

"Nonsense," Tsunade said. "Like I said, it's temporary so I wouldn't worry about it."

" _You_ wouldn't worry about it," Shizune pointed out, "but I imagine it would only take you a short time to corrupt the poor girl."

"What do you think I'm going to do? Offer her a drink?"

"Not necessarily that," Shizune said, "but it doesn't take long for children to pick up bad habits of the adults around them." Tsunade dismissively waved her hand.

"Please, I'm an amazing role model." Tsunade said before walking off. Shizune rolled her eyes.

"Right…"

* * *

 **Hello, hello! So I guess I'm back and I'm going to try to rewrite a very old story I wrote. I kind of want to flesh it out, change a few things, add a few things, and also move the timeline over a bit. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy this version a lot more! See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Learning the Will of Fire**

 **Chapter Two**

* * *

The stale white walls started to fill her vision. She squinted as the light was too bright but then she heard a voice.

"It's nice to see you're finally awake." The girl tried to look over then a sharp pain shot through her spine. She winced and then the voice moved closer. "Don't move; you'll make it worse." The girl's eyes moved to look and she saw that the voice belonged a beautiful woman with blond hair. She tried to say something but her voice felt dry.

"My name's Tsunade," the woman said.

"Tsu..na..?" Then the girl felt a pain in her forehead and winced. She then tried to turn but bit her lip and a tear rolled down her cheek. Tsunade stopped her from moving.

"Don't move please," Tsunade said, moving her hand to the girl's left side and applying her healing chakra. "You're such a good girl," she then praised when the girl didn't move.

"Tsu...na…" Then the girl coughed, causing more pain in her spine.

"Shh…" Tsunade said in a softer voice. "Can you turn on your side?" The girl said nothing so Tsunade gently moved her onto her right side. Tsunade then rested her hand on the girl's back, applying more chakra. "You shouldn't have any more pain in your back," she said when she finished. The girl nodded and tried to sit up but Tsunade had to help her.

"Thank you, ma'am," the girl sighed as reacted to the pain in her temples. Tsunade then placed a hand on her forehead.

"You're welcome," Tsunade said as she brushed away her brown hair and continued healing her injuries.

"Whatcha doing, ma'am?" The girl asked.

"Healing you," Tsunade answered. "Does this hurt?" The girl shook her head but ended up causing more of a headache.

"My head hurts," the girl said. "My legs hurt too."

"I see," Tsunade sighed, also moving to her legs. "What's your name?"

"Konari," she replied.

"That's a pretty name, Konari." Konari gave one affirmed nod.

"Thank you," she added.

"How old are you, Konari?" Tsunade then asked. Konari hummed in thought.

"I'm this many," Konari held out one of her hands, extending all of her fingers.

"Wow, you're such a big girl," Tsunade said as she finished healing her. "There. All done. You should be able to leave tonight and go play if you want to." Konari's face lit up.

"Really?" Tsunade nodded.

"Maybe not immediately but you can later." Konari then became visibly excited.

"I want to play," Konari said. "I never get to go play."

"Why is that?" Konari shrugged.

"I dunno," she said then Tsunade hummed in thought.

"Well," Tsunade started, "would you like to stay with me for a while? You can play as much as you want until you go home."

"I want to play," Konari repeated. "Can we go play now?" Tsunade chuckled.

"Later, later," she said.

Later on that night, Konari was checked out of the hospital and the two walked back to Tsunade's home. Tsunade swung open the door to the home, revealing a small hallway, a staircase leading up to the bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. "Here we are," she said.

"Do you have ramen?" Konari asked.

"Um," Tsunade started as she took off her heels, "let's go see." She walked over to the cabinets, searching for a pack of instant noodles. After finding a pack in the back of a random cabinet, she made it for the two of them. "I really need to go to the store…" Tsunade mumbled under her breath as she placed a bowl on the table for Konari. When the two finished, Konari let out a loud yawn.

"I'm bored. Can I play outside?" Tsunade shook her head.

"You're too young to be bored and it's dark outside so you have to play inside."

"What can I play then?" Tsunade hummed in thought, realizing that it's not like children frequent her house all the time.

"Do you know how to count?"

* * *

After a long day of being the Hokage's assistant, Shizune decided to go to the hospital to go check on Tsunade. Although Tsunade was retired, Shizune thought that she is trying to overwork herself. It was probably she didn't have anything to do, Shizune thought to herself. When she arrived at the hospital, she learned from the secretary that Tsunade had already went home. The secretary also managed to slip in the fact that Tsunade also checked out that girl.

Shizune groaned.

She started walking in the direction of her and Tsunade's home. They lived together because it was easier for Shizune to keep an eye on her aging mentor but as the Hokage's assistant, she's barely there anyway. So Shizune did occasional check-ins to make sure Tsunade was okay, whether it's from her debt collectors or stopping her from drinking herself into a coma. Shizune also couldn't help but wonder why Tsunade was interested in that girl. Yes, the girl survived a explosion with minimal injury but Tsunade would have normally sent a child whose parentage is unknown to the orphanage until that information was sorted out. It was unusual.

Shizune arrived at the home, using her personal key to quietly enter. Then she heard shouting from the living room.

"Odd!"

"Even!"

Shizune walked over to the living room to see Tsunade and the girl sitting on floor. The girl had a large bowl filled with cookies and Tsunade had a close to empty one but had a cup upside down on the floor. Then Tsunade lifted up the cup, revealing the snake-eyes on the dice.

"I win again!" The girl shouted. "Gimme your cookies!"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shouted. The nerve! Was she really gambling with a child?

"Oh, Shizune. I didn't hear you come in," Tsunade said, as she placed a cookie in her mouth.

"Hey, those are mine now!" The girl shouted. Tsunade gave her bored look.

"Don't you have enough cookies?" She said, putting another one in her mouth.

"But those are mine! I won them fair and square!" Sweat fell from Shizune's forehead. She knew this was a bad idea to let Tsunade watch the kid and now she's teaching her that gambling is okay. "I want those cookies! If I win, you have to give me all of them! If you win, I'll give you mine."

"Deal!" Then as the little girl smiled, Shizune frowned. _She's being suckered by a child_ , she said in her head _._ Tsunade put the dice in cup and shook it, then slammed it on the ground.

"Odd!"

"Even!"

Tsunade lifted up the cup, revealing a two and a six. "I won!" the girl shouted, jumping up and down, "I won! I won! I won!" Tsunade let out a yawn then stood up from the ground, picking up the two bowls in the process. "Hey! I won those!"

Tsunade shrugged. "You shouldn't have all these sweets so close to bedtime anyway…" She put the cookies up and the girl started stomping her feet and throwing a tantrum. "Hey!" Tsunade barked. "You're throwing a fit over cookies while you still haven't introduced yourself. Go introduce yourself to Shizune or you're going to bed now." The girl huffed but walked over to Shizune.

"My name's Konari…" she said in a lower voice.

"Nice to meet you, Konari," Shizune said. "I'm Shizune."

"Konari," Tsunade then said, handing her two cookies. "For beating me." Konari then gave Tsunade a cheeky grin.

"That's was easy because you kept picking the losing one."

"Don't rub it in, kid. Or I'll take those cookies back." Konari shook her head but ran to the other side of the room when Tsunade tried to grab them. Shizune simply shook her head.

"Lady Tsunade...you are unbelievable…" Tsunade laughed in response.

* * *

 **Okay, that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoyed this short chapter. But until next time, read and review and I'll see you later.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Learning the Will of Fire**

 **Chapter Three**

* * *

Konari spun around happily in front of the fullsize mirror. For the past few days, the garb Konari wore was a simple smock and now she had a lavender wrap shirt with ¾ sleeves under a plum pinafore dress and matching shoes. Tsunade smiled from the doorway.

"I can tell you like it," Tsunade said. Konari turned around and nodded.

"Thank you," the girl said, beaming, then she ran over over to hug Tsunade's legs.

"Alright, kiddo," Tsunade said, patting Konari's head, "you're welcome. So I have to go out but you have to stay here. Do you think you can handle being here for a few hours?" Konari hesitated before nodding. "Good. So I'll be back soon."

When the front door shut, Konari sighed. She wandered around the house, looking for something to do. This house obviously wasn't meant for children so Konari was instantly bored. After about twenty minutes of running around, Konari sat on the steps, staring at the front door. She didn't think Tsunade was coming back anytime soon but then she wondered about the world on the other side of the door.

As long as she got back first, she couldn't get in trouble, right?

Konari nodded to herself before opening the front door, and running outside. She didn't know where to go first so she looked around to get her bearings. There was a few shops near and the streets were full of people, the most Konari had ever seen. She looked at everything she could through the crowd of people. Then she noticed a ball rolled to a stop in front of her.

"Hey, kick us the ball!" Konari looked over to the group of children and was about to kick the ball until she saw an adult walked over to the kids, scolding them.

"Don't play with that girl! She could be dangerous!" Konari was silent as the other children were being yelled at but eventually turned to keep walking.

She didn't notice it before but she heard the murmurs as she walked by. She heard them talk about the gossip around her survival, keeping their distance. They all heard the explosion and stated that it was impossible that she was alive. Others stated that she was the only one around when it happened so it was very likely that she was the one who caused the explosion, making her dangerous. The children in the village mimicked their parents and the other adults around them.

Konari wiped her eyes and cheeks before standing in place, realizing that she was hungry. She didn't have any money so she didn't know what she was going to do. She looked around, not knowing where to go, so she continued to walk forward. Konari gradually could smell food, making her stomach growl. She walked closer to the entrance and sighed.

"It smells so good!" Konari said aloud.

"And it tastes even better." Konari looked up to see a blond man with facial markings smile at her.

"Really?" He nodded.

"Yep, you should really have some, y'know." Konari looked down at her feet.

"I...don't have any money," then her stomach growled again.

"No problem," the man said, "I'll pay for you." The man pulled out a chair for her then they both sat down.

"Thank you, Mister…"

"You can just call me Naruto, y'know."

"Well, thank you, Naruto...sir…" Konari said, a little embarrassed. Promptly, two bowls of ramen were placed in front of them. Konari placed a bit in her mouth then her eyes light up.

"Wow! This is good!" Naruto nodded in agreement and they both chowed down together.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tsunade was in the Hidden Leaf Village Hospital, studying some samples of blood and skin cells. She subjected them to many forms of testing, many of them coming back negative.

"Nothing…" Tsunade mumbled to herself. Then there was a knock on the door, "Come in."

"Good evening, milady," Shizune said as she walked into the laboratory.

"Good evening, Shizune," Tsunade replied, still busy looking in a microscope. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing," Shizune sighed, "Just checking in." Then she glanced over her mentor's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing what properties our little house guest's cells have to be resistant to extreme levels of damage…"

"And…?"

"And so far nothing." Shizune hummed in thought.

"You think it might be her chakra then?" Shizune then asked, "Or maybe a kekkei genkai?" Tsunade shrugged.

"We can't know for sure."

"I see." Then Shizune glanced around the room, "Where is Konari, by the way?"

"Oh, I left her at home," Tsunade said, turning toward Shizune, who had a horrified expression on her face. "What?"

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune began, "you _seriously_ did not leave a five-year-old at home by herself, did you?!" Tsunade waved her hand in front of her face in a nonchalant manner.

"What's the big deal?"

"What's the big…" Shizune was in complete disbelief. Was she being serious right now? "Lady Tsunade, you just can't leave a child at home by herself!" Tsunade then waved off Shizune.

"She's fine. What could happen?" Tsunade shrugged. Shizune let out an exasperated sigh.

"A _lot_ could happen, Lady Tsunade," Shizune explained. "She could have cut herself or burned herself in the kitchen, she could have fell down the stairs…"

"Please, Shizune," Tsunade started, "Konari seems like a smart girl. I don't think any of that stuff-"

"Lady Tsunade, she could have found your sake stash." Almost instantly, Tsunade darted out the laboratory door.

* * *

"Thank you again, Naruto sir," Konari said with a bright smile as they walked out of the establishment.

"No problem," he said, "Ichiraku is meant to be shared with everyone." Then Naruto glanced up to the sky, "It seems that it's getting late…" He looked down to Konari, "Where are your parents?" Konari's eyebrows rose then she looked away.

"I…"

"Forget I asked," Naruto said, placing his arms behind his head. "Let's get you home then. My own family probably waiting on me too."

"Your family?"

"Yeah, my wife and my two kids. My son is actually not that much older than you…" Konari hummed in response.

"I wish I could remember my family…" She sighed, "I just remember a bright light." Naruto just looked at the girl, her story reminding his of himself when he was was her age.

"C'mon, let's take you home."

* * *

The first thing Tsunade noticed when she arrived home was the unlocked door being slightly ajar.

"The door is opened," Shizune said, echoing Tsunade's thoughts. Tsunade took the first step into the house, taking note of anything that seemed out of place.

"Konari?" Tsunade called, hearing nothing in response. "Konari?" Tsunade watched from the corner of eye as Shizune confirmed that the kitchen was empty.

"You check upstairs and I'll check down here," Shizune said and the two kunoichis went on their search. Tsunade ran up to the room she gave to Konari first, immediately finding it empty.

"She's not in her room!" She called down to Shizune.

"She's not in the living room either," Shizune called back. Tsunade ran over to the next guest room, checking in the closet, behind larger objects, and under the bed.

"She's not hiding in your room, Shizune!"

"She's not in the pantry or closet either, milady!" Tsunade darted to her room, checking under the bed first, pulling out a box containing six bottle of sake. Tsunade gave a sigh of relief, pushing the box back under her bed before checking her own closet and behind the dresser. Then she checked the bathrooms, finding both empty. She walked back downstairs to Shizune.

"She's not in my room or the bathrooms…" Tsunade told Shizune, who sighed.

"This is exactly why we don't leave five-year-olds by themselves," Shizune huffed.

"This is not the time to scold me, Shizune," Tsunade snapped. "We need to find her. Where could she be?"

* * *

"Um, I think it this way…? Maybe?" Konari said, pointing to her left. Then she turned and point to her right, "Or maybe this way?" The streetlights in the village had already turned on and Naruto was still trying to take Konari home. Naruto sighed.

"Maybe we could pick a direction and if it is not that one, we'll circle back this way, okay?" Konari nodded in agreement before taking the road on the left with her elder trailing behind her.

"Sorry, I don't really remember my way home," Konari explained. "This is my first time going around the village…"

"Really?" Naruto said, following the girl, "What's your name, by the way?"

"Konari," came the reply before she felt her eye twitch, then she pointed down an alleyway. "It's this way."

"How can you be sure?" Naruto asked, "You said you couldn't remember."

"I feel it," Konari said, "besides," turning to Naruto with a smile, "we can always circle back if I'm wrong." Naruto sighed but followed the girl down the alleyway anyway. "See! See, Naruto sir! I was right! The house is down this street!" Konari started running in that direction.

"Wait! Konari!" Naruto shouted before running after the child down the street. Konari eventually stopped and pointed at the home, jumping for joy.

"See, Naruto sir! It's right here!" Naruto stopped to catch his breath before looking at the house.

"Hey," he began between breaths, "that's great, I...wait, this looks like Granny Tsuna-"

"Shizune!" Naruto watched as the two kunoichis walk out of the house. Then he remembered something.

"Oh," he said to himself, "that means that Konari is that…"

"We have to notify the Sixth," Tsunade continued, "the top Jonin, and maybe even the ANBU Black Ops if we have to...We have to find her no matter-" Suddenly, Tsunade locked eyes with the subject of her conversation. "Konari!" Then Tsunade ran over the girl, picking her up and hugging her. Then she stopped and held Konari away from her body.

"Where were you?" Tsunade scolded. "You scared us! We were looking everywhere for you."

"I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade," Konari started, "but I just wanted to see the village…" Tsunade sighed but embraced Konari again.

"You should've just asked me, Konari…" Tsunade sighed again, "I was so worried...Shizune," shooting a glare at said woman, "over here, was telling me of all the horrible things that could have happened to you…"

"Any of them could have happened!" Shizune chimed in. Then Tsunade looked over to Naruto.

"You found her?" Naruto let out a nervous laugh before putting a hand behind his neck.

"Ah, yeah. Found her at Ichiraku, but she's back here safely." Tsunade nodded.

"I guess I should thank you, Naruto."

"Thank you, Naruto sir!" Konari added. Naruto smiled.

"Well, I got to go," He said. "Hinata's probably worried sick…"

"Okay, thank you again, Naruto," Tsunade said before following Shizune inside with Konari in her arms. After Shizune closed the door behind them, Tsunade gave a stern look when she put her down. "Konari…"

"I'm really sorry, Lady Tsunade," Konari sighed. "I had nothing to do…"

"And this is why we don't leave five-year-olds by themselves," Shizune sighed.

"Okay, now I know for next time not to leave her here," Tsunade sighed as well. Shizune shook her head.

"Lady Tsunade…"

"Okay, no point of dwelling on it," Tsunade said as she stretched. "It's been a long day so I think it's time to go to bed…"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune said incredulously, "It's only 6:30!"

"It's too early to sleep!" Konari added as Tsunade let out a yawn.

"Then a quick nap will be fine…" she said as she began her journey up the stairs.

"It's too late for a nap, Lady Tsunade," Konari said, pulling on Tsunade's hand.

"Konari, if you let me take this nap, I'll give you cookies when I wake up."

"Okay!" Konari cheered, letting go of her host's hand.

"Lady Tsunade! You can't do that!"

* * *

 **Okay, here's another chapter before the new year. I hope you guys enjoy my late Christmas present and I'll see you guys next time!**


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